February 2012
91 posts
January 2012
45 posts
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Excerpts from the awesome "dialogue" that took...
OP: -What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
-The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
Me: Please, oh please, tell me you posted this to mock it?
A Friend: I don't think so, JJ
Me: Really? *sigh* Okay... well, what does the government "give" to us? I would say the big ones would be public roads, schools, libraries, parks, etc., defense, Social Security, CHIP, Medicare and Medicaid. Since the government had a hand in building the road that leads to our home, did it then take away a road from someone else? If the government provided health insurance to a child, did it then take away health insurance from another child? ***the OP promptly deleted this entire comment, so I may be paraphrasing slightly
Me, continued: OR, was the person who originally came up with all these ridiculous statements (yes, I've read them all) merely pointing out that we have to pay for all these things via taxes? Because yes. That's true. That's actually the definition of government.
Another Friend: Hmm. I just took it as a deceptively simple way of looking at the government, which makes it easier to justify not helping the poor or making sure all people have access to health care, among other things.
OP: Wow... You guys are pretty mean! It's my wall, I can post what I would like to! Hope you both have better days, maybe your just in bad moods!!
A sympathizer to OP: Welcome to reality, OP ... you're going to run into this kind of reaction a lot. Post all the liberal ideas you want, and everybody will pat you on the back. Try posting conservative ideas, and you're supposedly the most misled, idiotic person on earth. But, you are absolutely correct, don't worry... and don't drink the Koolaid ;)
Me: How in the world is it mean to point out that the government provides roads...??? (which I see you deleted. nice.) And of course you can post whatever you want to. No one is suggesting you can't. But most people put things out there to start a discussion, correct? So... discuss.
OP: Thanks Sympathizer! Many people need to learn (accept, maybe) that there are soo many opinions and points of views! It is sad that instead of accepting our differences in opinions some automatically go on the defensive and choose to just say rude things, completely unprovoked! I doesn't at all change any of my beliefs and thoughts, it just makes me sad!! Ps... No, I just put it up there to post it because I like it :) not to discuss it! Have a good night
Me: Again, OP, what did I type that was, in any way, rude? And I see no defensive statements here at all (other than yours). This entire conversation is bizarre. You have a good night, too. ***Again, this comment was promptly deleted by the OP.
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Indeed.
thesemotherfuckingsnakes:
Yes, you have the right to say your opinion.
I also have the right to say your opinion sucks.
AND - you have a right to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.
So annoyed today. ~JJ
shychemist:
Hard Believer - First Aid Kit
My...
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A memory (TW: Rape)
rainbowcolouredbroccoli:
I was in my seminar for Legal Theory. We were doing a group discussion on how notions of morality and disgust are subjective and thus shouldn’t be the basis for law. We all seemed to be on basically the same page, which was nice—there were enough strong personalities in the group that disagreements could be hard to reconcile. Everything was going smoothly, until one girl...
ladycatsa asked: you have the cutest kid ever ;u;
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Evolution and Christmas Lights
Scene: Later that evening….
Son: When we die, will we become animals?
Me: No… when we die, we eventually become dirt.
Son: I KNOW THAT. But then the dirt will grow plants, right? And then animals will eat the plants?
Me: Okay, yes. That’s true.
Son: So, we’ll kinda be like animals, right?
Me: I suppose you could think of it that way. But you know, humans...
queenttargaryen asked: your 7 year old (or is it 6 year old?) sounds like a great kid. you must be a proud parent! love your blog, glad I found it! :)
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I was told to call a friend of a friend for advice...
“She sold her house in less than two weeks! You should definitely call her,” my friend said.
So, excited about getting good tips, I called.
When the friend of my friend started her sentence with “I don’t know what religion you are, but…” I knew calling had been a huge mistake.
The advice? Bury a Saint Andrew statue in your backyard. ”It works!”...
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I was always critical of Christians for coming...
Absolutely, everyone is entitled to believe whatever they want to believe. It is perfectly acceptable for a Christian to give credit to God for something. For a Muslim to credit Allah. For a Hindu to credit one of their deities. For a Pastafarian to credit the FSM. The problem, however, is when people try to force others to believe what they believe.
You can’t ask someone to be tolerant of...
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When someone believes in Jesus and the Bible, a...
Atheists have only one thing in common - they do not believe in a theistic god. So I certainly can’t speak for all atheists, but I can tell you how I feel and how most of the people I have encountered, read, watched, interacted with, etc., feel. For an atheist, life is incredibly precious. We are utterly insignificant in terms of the size of our known universe, but the fact that we are even...
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I just got my first "why don't all atheists just...
If there is no plan and we are all insignificant, why go on living?
*sigh*
My answer, of course, was the knowledge that there isn’t a plan or a purpose is one of the best things about being an atheist. Let me repeat that… it is one of The Best Things.
No magical being is “allowing evil” to happen. We are not defined by the “sins of our fathers;” suffering...
“Beyond the universe there is nothing and within the universe the supernatural...”
– George F. Spencer of Lyndon Center, Vt., died in 1908 at age 83. The epitaph above is inscribed on the sides of a granite monument. (Charles L. Wallis, Stories on Stone, 1954.)
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“Curiously enough, the only thing that went through the mind of the bowl of...”
– Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
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“In 5-billion yrs the Sun will expand & engulf our orbit as the charred ember...”
– Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on Twitter today
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A Skeptics Journey through the Bible: Final... →
askepticsjourneythroughthebible:
If you were going to make up your own religion, purely as a benefit to yourself, you would portray some of the behavior we find in the Book of Numbers; consider: A census is commanded by God to count the available Israelite soldiers. All-knowing God would never order a census because, for…
This is a long read, but it is a fantastic summary of the Book of...
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Judges 11:29-40 Cherry Picking!
mamaatheist:
deconversionmovement:
Most of us are familiar with the story of Abraham and Isaac. If you aren’t familiar with this story of failed human sacrifice, read Genesis 22:1-18. I can recall ministers focusing on a portion of the eighth verse: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” From there a sermon unravels: “God will provide a lamb. Oh, he has...
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"Intelligent design" bill in Missouri
All sorts of these stories flying around here tonight. UGH. Original source HERE. ~JJ
House Bill 1227, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 10, 2012, would, if enacted, require “the equal treatment of science instruction regarding evolution and intelligent design,” according to the legislature’s summary of the bill. The equal treatment provision...
Tim Tebow is clearly the Anti-Christ. It's in the... →
nonplussedbyreligion:
lackofbelief:
Haaaaaa!
carlsagan-ismyhomeboy:
theatheisttroll:
Ahahhahahahahhahahahahahaahaha
OH MY GOD WHY DOESN’T THIS HAVE ANY NOTES it’s so funny
Ok so I may have lied earlier when I posted this and said it was my last Tim Tebow post ever. Please read this link, it is hilarious. You know how Bible nuts like to use the Bible to prove their points? Well...
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“If, like a lemming finally gaining its senses, you run against the flow &...”
– nakedpastor: sane lemming
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She will be remembered
I’ve been struggling to write this all morning. I’m usually pretty clear in what I want to convey, but today I’m not. At all. If you bother reading this, please forgive the fragments and lack of direction.
Today is the anniversary of the death of a dear friend’s child.
She was less than a year old. ”SIDS” was all the doctors could tell us.
Celine...
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“And for the record, I do not hate you. I am embarrassed by you and nauseated by...”
– Jesse LaGreca (An open letter to the people who hate Obama more than they love America)
You might remember him from this video. ~JJ
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"Where faith really pays its dividends, however,...
~ Sam Harris (The End of Faith)
This quote, this entire idea, has been on my mind all weekend long.
Kim’s post this morning expounds on the effects of this idea. Complacent acceptance of others’ (and their own!) pain and suffering. Willingness to overlook the atrocities in our world as a “plan.” A belief that everything is temporary and that death will be better than...
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“Imagine a world in which generations of human beings come to believe that...”
– Sam Harris (The End of Faith)
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“I realized, to my embarrassment, that instead of spending so much time praying...”
– Anonymous letter read on The Thinking Atheist’s most recent podcast entitled “Help I’m a Closet Atheist”
The entire podcast can be found HERE. ~JJ
“Imagine that we could revive a well-educated Christian of the fourteenth...”
– Sam Harris (The End of Faith)
Inchoate: Just begun and so not fully formed or developed. Rudimentary. (You’re welcome. ~JJ)
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What does being an atheist FEEL like?
A friend of mine (who is questioning her faith) asked me recently, “What does being an atheist FEEL like?”
It’s a good question.
A typical and well known response is “It feels like being the only sober person in a car of drunks and no one will let you drive. And just about every other person on the road is drunk, too.”
But that doesn’t really cover it for...
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Good Parts and Bad Parts
Nonplussedbyreligion’s post on teaching children about all religions - the good parts and the bad parts - really hit home for me. It’s something we do in our house all the time.
My 7 year old can tell you stories about Zeus and Hera, Athena and Hermes. He knows the popular stories from the Bible (the actual stories, not the “for kids” versions). He knows the basics of...
“There is a fundamental difference between explaining someone’s behavior and...”
